Intranasal delivery of bFGF with nanoliposomes enhances in vivo neuroprotection and neural injury recovery in a rodent stroke model

Basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) may protect stroke patients from cerebral ischemia–reperfusion (I/R) injury. In this study, we report the intranasal use of novel nanoliposomes for the brain delivery of bFGF in a rat model of cerebral I/R. Compared with free bFGF, nanoliposomal therapy was able to significantly improve bFGF accumulation in brain tissues (p < 0.05) including the most affected ischemic penumbra regions (e.g. hippocampus, pallium). After intranasal bFGF-nanoliposomal treatment for 3 consecutive days, functional recovery as indicated by improved neurologic deficit score and spontaneous locomotor activity was observed, and the stroke infarct volume was nearly halved (p < 0.001) which persisted after 21 days. These neuroprotective effects could be blocked by the PI3-K/Akt inhibitor LY294002, indicating the involvement of PI3-K/Akt activation in the therapeutic action. Overall, our results support the intranasal use of nanoliposomal bFGF as an efficient, non-invasive means to bypass the blood–brain barrier for ischemic stroke treatment.